A woman arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs from Mexico
into the United States had to have a one-pound package of
methamphetamine surgically removed from her pelvis last week.
Claudia Ibarra, 31, was taken into custody after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents patted her down and "realized there was something down there," spokeswoman Teresa Small told The Associated Press on Friday.
A doctor removed from Ibarra a black package of drugs double-wrapped in condoms.
Ibarra,
a U.S. citizen and resident of Yuma, Ariz., had attempted to cross the
border at San Luis alone and on foot, according to authorities.
Per
a tabulation of U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border
Protection data by the Center for Investigative Reporting, more than
36,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized by agents along the
U.S.-Mexico border between 2005 and 2011.
Although that number
pales in comparison to the amounts of marijuana and cocaine seized in
the area during the same time period, the amount of meth reported
appears to be increasing year over year.
A separate report by the
AP notes that the spike in meth seizures "reflects a shift in production
to Mexico after a U.S. crackdown on domestic labs."
According to the AP, drug mules - including children - have been discovered withcaches of meth hidden in many unlikely places.
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